Dale Pollak, founder of vAuto, offers dealers a “provisioning” strategy for their used vehicle inventories:
• Use simulcast and proxy bids in tandem. Used vehicle managers have multiple responsibilities. They actively monitor the simulcast auctions where they expect to find the greatest number of vehicles they need, and use proxy biddings to ensure they’re still in the game when they’re called away from their desk.
• Mind your “proxy bid discounting.” Today’s technology and tools can eliminate any guesswork about the “what to pay?” leg of the provisioning strategy and give dealers confidence in maximum bid amounts to offset the tendency toward discounting proxy bids.
• Pick your spots to pay up. There are times when going beyond a target acquisition price by $100 to $300 makes sense to meet broader inventory needs and goals. This is a rational decision and one that dealers should account for as they set their simulcast and proxy bidding strategies and targets.
• “Go where they ain’t.” A South Carolina dealers says, “If I need a Nissan, I’m going to look at non-Nissan lanes to see if I can catch a Chevy dealer who’s trying to get rid of one.”
